English in the Commonwealth of Nations

The use of the English language in most member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was inherited from British colonisation. English is spoken as a first or second language in most of the Commonwealth. In a few countries, such as Cyprus and Malaysia, it does not have official status, but is widely used as a lingua franca. Mozambique is an exception – although English is widely spoken there, it is a former Portuguese colony which joined the Commonwealth in 1996.

Many regions, notably Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the Caribbean, have developed their own native varieties of the language. As such, generalisations cannot be made about the various forms of English used by the various member nations of the Commonwealth.

Written English as used in the Commonwealth generally favours traditional spelling as opposed to American spelling, with one notable exception being Canada, where there is also a strong influence from neighbouring American English.

The report of the Inter-Governmental Group on Criteria for Commonwealth Membership states that English is a symbol of Commonwealth heritage and unity.

Native varieties

Southern Hemisphere native varieties of English began to develop during the 18th century, with the colonisation of Australasia and South Africa. Australian English and New Zealand English are closely related to each other, and share some similarities with South African English. The vocabularies of these dialects draw from both British and American English as well as numerous native peculiarities.

Canadian English is a variety of North American English. It shares the same roots as the English of the United States because it was based on the immigration of British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution in the late eighteenth century. It was also influenced by Scottish, Irish and English immigration after the War of 1812. While the language has continued to change in all of these places, modern Canadian English has taken significant vocabulary and spelling from the shared political and social institutions of Commonwealth countries.

The Caribbean

Caribbean English is influenced by the English-based Creole varieties spoken, but they are not one and the same. There is a great deal of variation in the way English is spoken, with a "Standard English" at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum and Creole languages at the other. These dialects have roots in 17th-century English and African languages; unlike most native varieties of English, West Indian dialects often tend to be syllable-timed rather than stress-timed.

Non-native varieties

Second language varieties of English in Africa and Asia have often undergone "indigenisation"; that is, each English-speaking community has developed (or is in the process of developing) its own standards of usage, often under the influence of local languages. These dialects are sometimes referred to as New Englishes (McArthur, p. 36); most of them inherited non-rhoticity from Southern British English.

Africa

Several dialects of West African English exist, with a lot of regional variation and some influence from indigenous language. West African English tends to be syllable-timed, and its phoneme inventory is much simpler than that of Received Pronunciation; this sometimes affects mutual intelligibility with native varieties of English. A distinctive East African English is spoken in countries such as Kenya or Tanzania.

Small communities of native English speakers can be found in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia; the dialects spoken are similar to South African English.

In countries such as Kenya -particularly in Nairobi and other cities where there is an expanding middle class- English is increasingly being used in the home as the first language, albeit with significant lexical influence from and secondary use of Swahili in a context of code-switching.

Asia

South Asia has the world's largest English-speaking population with a certain percentage of people who speak English as their first or second language, although most speakers of Indian English, Pakistani English etc. are not always first language speakers. South Asian English phonology is highly variable; stress, rhythm and intonation are generally different from those of native varieties. There are also several peculiarities at the levels of morphology, syntax and usage, some of which can also be found among educated speakers.

Southeast Asian English comprises Singapore English, Malaysian English and Brunei English; it features some influence from Malay and Chinese languages, as well as Indian English.

Hong Kong ceased to be part of the Commonwealth in 1997. Nonetheless, the English language still enjoys status as an official language, alongside Chinese.

See also

• North American English
• EF English Proficiency Index
• English-speaking world

Other languages:

• Community of Portuguese Language Countries
• Dutch Union
• La Francophonie
• Latin Union
• List of countries by spoken languages

References

• McArthur, Tom (2002). The Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866248-3.
• Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X.
• Trudgill, Peter and Jean Hannah. (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English, 4th ed. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80834-9.